Delicious Homemade Hot Apple Cider Recipe for Autumn

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One of the exciting parts of seasonal living is to make recipes that suit the season. Autumn has to be the most beautiful season for coziness, as the colours outside are still gorgeous in the natural world! The world isn’t bleak yet, there is a warmth against the clear blue sky.

Autumn nights and mornings are cool, while the days are tolerable. At least where I am in NSW, Australia.

Autumn is when the trees begin to shed leaves to preserve energy. There is a peacefulness in the natural world. We gently contract as autumn progresses.

Apples are strongly associated with the season of autumn. A delicious hot apple cider brewed in your kitchen is a lovely seasonal beverage to enjoy.

While in the summertime you will likely be seeking iced drinks, in autumn is when we want warming beverages. It’s quite the seasonal mismatch to sit and sip an iced drink of an evening in the middle of autumn.

To live seasonally, make yourself this delicious warming apple cider.

Hot Apple Cider Recipe

I brew my apple cider in the slow cooker (crock pot), buy you can also make your hot apple cider over the stove.

Ingredients

1 orange (plus optional extra slices for garnish)
12 apples (I make with 6 green and 6 red)
4 cinnamon sticks
½ cup of maple syrup or brown sugar (sweet option) or ¼ cup if you prefer a little spicier.
¼ teaspoon of nutmeg
Water (enough to cover the apples in your slow cooker or stove pot)

Method

Step 1. Cut fruit

Cut up your apples into wedges and orange into slices. I leave the peel on the orange and the skin on the apple for more flavour.

Step 2. Fill slow cooker

Place apple, orange, cinnamon sticks, maple syrup (or sugar) and nutmeg in the slow cooker. Cover with water until the ingredients are just covered.

Step 3. Slow cook

Slow cook on low for 6 hours or 4 hours on high.

Step 4. Mash fruit & cook longer

After the designated time, remove the cinnamon sticks and use a potato masher to mash the softened fruit in the slow cooker. Continue to cook on low for 1 more hour.

Step 5. Strain

Remove from heat. Carefully tip the liquid over the top of a mesh strainer to filter out the fruit chunks. BE SURE to catch the liquid underneath in a jar or container. I nearly tipped it down the sink the first time I made this (mum mode at night).

Once you taste it, you can adjust increase sweetness to your desired level.

Step 6. Serve

Serve warm with a slice of orange. DELICIOUS! Keep in the fridge for up to a week. Warm up on the stove to serve again.

Homemade Hot Apple Cider in the Slow Cooker — *A delicious drink for autumn.*

Recipe Notes

Oranges where I live, come into season late in autumn. If you can’t find any oranges in season early autumn where you are, you can skip this part!

Shopping List

With the season of life I’m in, I’m not a huge take-out consumer. My husband and I do our best to cook almost all meals at home for my family. There is one absolute essential for us and that is a slow cooker.

We use our slow cooker multiple times a week. In the cooler seasons, close to daily. You can do overnight oats, curries, value meat cuts, so many options for a slow cooker!

In Closing

Thank you for being here! Please let me know in the comments below if you make this hot apple cider.

Wishing you beautiful autumn days ahead. Get cosy and read another seasonal living post on how to romanticize your life this autumn. You may also like to see my recommended books to read in autumn.

Rachael x

Author Rachael of Luna Mystery Cottage — **About the Author**

Hello, I’m Rachael. I created Luna Mystery Cottage to inspire you to slow down and live seasonally. Read more about me here.

Delicious Homemade Hot Apple Cider for Autumn